Spanish affiliate sector grows by 30% in Q4 2018

Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ), the Spanish gambling authority, disclosed this information in its quarterly report, which also found that general marketing spend increased by 25% for the three-month period, up to €95.1 million.

It comes after massive growth of 27.4% (to €97.4 million) during Q3 2018, reinforced by the FIFA World Cup. Despite the Spanish national team’s early exist at the hands of hosts Russia, a whopping €1.6 billion was staked, a rise of 21.6% from Q3 2017. June was also confirmed as Spanish igaming operators’ best ever month thanks to World Cup fever.

The Spanish casino vertical delivered revenue of €60.9 million, over a third higher than 2017’s third quarter, slots rose by 54% to €34.2 million, while live roulette went up to €11.9 million, a 31% rise.

Back in October, it emerged that the DGOJ was working alongside the La Liga integrity unit. The pair reported 39 suspicious betting alerts during the 2017-18 Spanish football season, which resulted in nine criminal court cases prosecuting match-fixing offences.

La Liga and DGOJ officials presented Spanish media, with the results of their working collaboration on maintaining Spanish football’s integrity against corruption and match-fixing.

Out of the nine criminal cases put forward by La Liga, seven have been prosecuted by Spain’s judiciary.